09 January 2011

A senior Republican senator, speaking anonymously in order to freely discuss the tragedy, told POLITICO that the Giffords shooting should be taken as a “cautionary tale” by Republicans.

“There is a need for some reflection here - what is too far now?” said the senator. “What was too far when Oklahoma City happened is accepted now. There’s been a desensitizing. These town halls and cable TV and talk radio, everybody’s trying to outdo each other.”

The vast majority of tea party activists, this senator said, ought not be impugned.

“They’re talking about things most mainstream Americans are talking about, like spending and debt,” the Republican said, before adding that politicians of all stripes need to emphasize in the coming days that “tone matters.”

“And the Republican Party in particular needs to reinforce that,” the senator said.

It really speaks volumes that, even in the wake of an attempted assassination, a sitting U.S. Senator won't make calm, measured comments about "reflection" and "tone" on the record out of fear of the political consequences of being perceived as blaming the hysterical fearmongering of the Becks, Palins, and Limbaughs.

The "too far" that Sen. X (R-Witness Protection Program) is talking about isn't far at all; it's clearly in control of the Republican Party.